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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Ulrich Fischer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 13 | Number 1 | January 1988 | Pages 143-152
Technical Paper | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25091
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The use of beryllium as a neutron multiplier for fusion reactor blankets has been analyzed. The analysis has been performed based on designs for a helium-cooled ceramic breeder and a self-cooled liquid-metal blanket, which have both been suggested for the Next European Torus reactor. It is shown that the use of beryllium in a ceramic breeder blanket is best in a “sandwich-type” arrangement, where a beryllium block is embedded between a thin ceramic layer and the thick main breeding zone, or in a homogeneous mixture of beryllium and breeding ceramics. The sandwich-type solution needs only a minimum of beryllium inventory. Monte Carlo calculations show that heterogeneity effects in such a blanket are negligible. Therefore, the “homogeneous” solution can be achieved in a more heterogeneous arrangement like slabs of beryllium with the breeding ceramics in between. The use of beryllium also provides a benefit for liquid-metal blankets, using either LiPb or lithium metal as breeding material, since neutron multiplication and the tritium breeding ratio are enhanced in such a way that it is possible to reduce the blanket thickness considerably or to replace the inboard breeding blanket by a simple neutron reflector. It turns out that in such a blanket the use of lithium metal as breeding material is superior to that of LiPb.